Danish doom rockers Demon Head have signed to Svart Records and will release their third long-player, Hellfire Ocean Void, through the venerable imprint on Feb. 22. The new album follows behind 2017’s Thunder on the Fields (review here), which found the five-piece pressing further into their traditionalist roots while crafting the boogie into a shape of their own. Since their outset, they’ve had aesthetic, songwriting and performance working steadily in their favor, plus they’ve toured, so an alliance with a label like Svart seems a natural next step in their forward progression. Kudos to the band and another killer pickup for the label. It’s good news all the way around.

And not the least because it means 2019 will bring a new one from Demon Head. There’s no audio from Hellfire Ocean Void out yet, but the band issued the two-songer single The Resistance (review here) earlier this year if you find yourself looking for a fix.

The PR wire brings word:

DEMON HEAD set release date for new SVART album – reveal cover, tracklisting

Hellfire Ocean Void is composed by eight songs that unfold themselves effortlessly perfect in the tension between a delicate sense of composition and the uncompromising urgency with which the five musicians deliver the performance of each song. Mournful melodies of unearthly dimensions are played on piano and orchestrated with the use of classic rock instrumentation – electric guitars, bass, and drums. Dark and mystical chord progressions, sporadic guitar solos, chaotic arpeggio synthesizers, and the prophetic words of M.F.L are held together by the solid drum beats of J.W. Ambient recordings of acoustic instruments are accompanied by tape manipulation, which slowly develops into a haunting soundspace, showing B.G.N’s skills as an avant-garde composer. Guitar leads morph into the breathtaking improvisations of T.G.N as the band’s energetic center of bassist M.F leaves nothing to be questioned.

The writing, recording, mixing, and production was all done during the winter 2017-2018 by Demon Head in their own analog studio. Isolating themselves in the frozen countryside by the coast of Denmark and having no studio time limitations made it possible to encounter the recording studio as a sixth member, enabling them to produce the album with sincere curiosity and perfection. The only other person involved was the legendary producer Flemming Rasmussen (Metallica, Morbid Angel, Mercyful fate, etc.) who mastered the album in Sweet Silence Studios.

With Hellfire Ocean Void, Demon Head have created a masterpiece in contemporary rock music. As any other truly original music, it is difficult to draw any similarities, since the music seems to hint at nothing but its own integrity: an integrity that is based upon the insight that Demon Head gains from loving and accepting the many clichés and traditions that follow from playing rock music – and from that foundation moves far into the unknown, into the darkness and into our hearts.